The bolam test: A seismic change in the hon'ble supreme court's stand on its acceptability

Since time immemorial, medical profession has been regarded as one of the noblest professions of the mankind, and hence, the society has imposed a ‘Duty of Carefulness’ in the strictest sense upon the medical practitioners. It is not sufficient that the medical professional acted in good faith to the best of his or her judgment and belief. He/she is expected to have the requisite degree of skill and knowledge, as per the advancements in the field. The question in every case would be whether the medical practitioner had in fact attained the degree of due care established by law. Since its articulation in 1957, the ‘Bolam test’ gained much acceptance world-wide as the principle to decide the standard of ‘care and attention’ on part of the medical practitioner towards his patient. But slowly, with the advancement in the field and availability of ‘state of the art’ equipment, ‘Bolam’ started losing ground and the journey from ‘Bolam’ to ‘Montgomery’ has completely diluted the acceptability of the ‘Bolam’ in the courts as a test for the standard of ‘due care and attention’. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, in its latest judgments, has also changed its stand on the ‘Bolam’ and has said that ‘Bolam’ opts for the lowest common denominator, there by considerably decreasing the standard of medical care available to the patients. It said that “the ‘Bolam Standard’ must evolve in consonance with the advancements in the medical field, otherwise it would be inconsistent with the Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”